Ski boot buckle

ABSTRACT

An adjustable boot buckle, preferably for ski boots, has a tongue member with racks which are received by a clasp having gears which engage the racks of the tongue. The gears are movable to locking and unlocking positions and have a knob for adjusting the tension of the buckle and unlocking the buckle for adjustment.

z Unite States hatet 1 1 3,729,779 Porth 51 May 1, 1973 SKI BOOT BUCKLE2,205,742 6/1940 Bowers ..24/68 B 2,926 406 3/1960 Edwards el al......24/68 B [76] Inventor: Karl A. Porth, 1522 Sylvan S.E.,

Grand p s M c 49506 3,325,824 6/1967 Donegan ..24/68 B [22] Filed: June7, 1971 Primary Examiner-Bernard A. Gelak Assistant ExaminerDarrellMarquette [211 App! 15o392 Att0rney.lohn E. McGarry [52] US. Cl ..24/68SK [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl ..A43c 11/00 58 Field of Search ..24/68SK, 68 CT, adjustable k preferably f l has a tongue member with rackswhich are received 24/68 B, 68 C; 254/66, 95; 280/1135 Z,

by a clasp having gears which engage the racks of the 11.35 H; 36/50tongue. The gears are movable to locking and unlocking positions andhave a knob for adjusting the [56] References Clted tension of thebuckle and unlocking the buckle for ad- UNITED STATES PATENTS justment-3,678,539 7/1972 Grau ..24/68 SK 8 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures 5 6 I I I 45O 6 8 i ll 1 Patented May 1, 1973 3,729,779

so 68 62 44 lfl 46 54 i 11 I 56 64 4 2 36 I 7 W P! um 60 2811 38 62 42INVENTORQ I KARL A. Pogm BYW- 52 6O 6O F|G.4 48

5 8 ms ATTOENE SKI BOOT BUCKLE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION boot bucklehaving a tightening gear which is movable into a locking and unlockingposition.

2. State of the Prior Art Ski boots for downhill skiing must haveadequate ankle and foot support and must be adjusted to the propertightness. Heretofore, laces have been used to tighten the ski bootsaround the skiers feet and ankles. Generally, in order to be properlylaced, the boots must be laced by a person other than the user. Inaddition, the lacing of boots is quite time consuming and the desireddegree of tension or tightness of the boot is rarely achieved withlaces. In recent years, ski boots have become much stiffer which furtherinhibits the ability of laces to achieve the proper degree of tightness.

Recently, ski boots have been made with a toggle clamp having a wirehook at one side of the .boot opening, the wire hook engaging one of aplurality of ridges on a clasp secured to the other side of the bootopening. The tightness of the boot is obtained by selecting the rightridge in the clasp for the wire hook. The toggle clamps are difficult tosecure and do not lend themselves to finite adjustment between ridges.Normally, only three or four ridges are provided for each clasp.

An adjustable ski boot buckle has been disclosed by Teufel in U.S. Pat.No. 3,259,950. A threaded screwlike member engages a clasp to adjust thetension in the boot. Whereas this type of a buckle permits a finiteadjustment of the tension of the boot, the tightening of the screw takesconsiderable time to adjust and the mechanism is subject to freezing.

Most recently, a ski boot having a T-lock buckle has been marketed byTyrol. The buckle has a knob which adjusts the buckle tension through aratchet mechanism. A locking lever is provided to lock and unlock thebuckle. This mechanism requires two hands to operate and the ratchettype of mechanism is quite difficult to adjust when a large tension isrequired as with the newer molded plastic boots.

BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION According to the invention, there isprovided a ski boot buckle which is quickly adjusted to the propertension and has a finite adjustment mechanism with an external knob.Further, a special mechanism provides a mechanical advantage for theproper tension easily with one hand and the mechanism is locked in placeat the desired tension by simply releasing the knob.

The buckle according to the invention has a tongue with at least onerack member and a clasp formed of a hollow casing and having an openingfor receiving the tongue member. Gear means are mounted in the claspmember for engaging the rack member of the tongue member and means areprovided for selectively locking the gear means to retain the tonguemeans within the clasp member in selected adjusted positions. The gearmeans are movable for engagement and disengagement with the lockingmeans and means are provided for biasing the gear means into engagementwith the locking means.

Preferably, the tongue member has a pair of racks having teeth facinginwardly of an opening in the tongue. The clasp member has a pair ofgears, each of which engages one of the racks. The mechanical advantageprovided by the two gear and rack combination greatly reduces the amountof force necessary to finely adjust the buckle to high boot tensions. Aknob has a stem which is fixed to one of the gears to adjust the buckletension by rotation of the gears. In addition, the knob raises one ofthe gears to disengage the locking means so that the adjustments can bemade with one hand.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will now be describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a ski boot embodying the ski buckleaccording to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view in section of the buckle according to theinvention, seen generally along lines 2-2 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 2 andillustrating the buckle in the locked position; and

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 illustrating the buckle in theunlocked position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings,there is illustrated a ski boot 12 having a conventional opening 14 inthe front thereof with a tongue in said opening. Buckles 16 close theopening about the tongue in a conventional manner. The buckles 16comprise a clasp member 18 and a tongue member 20. A plate 22 is mountedon one side of the boot opening 14 and is secured to the tongue member20 through a rivet 24. The clasp member 18 is secured to the oppositeside of the boot opening through a rivet 26 (FIG. 2).

Reference is now made to FIGS. 2 and 3 for a description of the detailsof the buckle. The clasp member 18 has an elongated hollow casing formedfrom a base 28, upstanding side walls 30 and 32, and a top wall 34.Corner indentations 36 and 38 are formed at the bottom corners of thecasing. An indentation 40 is formed in the base 28 of the casing and aboss 42 extends downwardly from the base 28. A boss or raised portion 44and an indentation 46 is formed in the top wall 34.

A first gear 48 is rotatably mounted within the casing on a shaft 50.The top of the shaft 50 extends through the top wall into theindentation 46 and is peened over therein. The bottom of the shaft 50extends through the base 28 and into the indentation 40 wherein it ispeened over to the secure mounting of the shaft 50 between the top wall34 and the base 28. The indentations 40 and 46 support the gear 48 infixed position within the casing on the shaft 48. A second gear 52 ismounted on a shaft 54 for meshing with the first gear 48 within thehollow casing. The top of the shaft 54 extends through the boss 44 andhas a knob 56 secured on the upper end thereof. Desirably, a socket 58is shaft 54 so that rotation of shaft 54 causes a corresponding rotationof the second gear 52. Three stops 60 are mounted on the base 28 andextend upwardly a short distance to engage the teeth of the second gear5 2 when the gear is positioned adjacent the base 28 as illustrated inFIG. 3. A coil spring 62 biases the second gear downwardly so that itengages the stops 60. As illustrated in FIG. 4, when the knob 56 ispulled upwardly, the second gear 52 is raised so as to avoid the stops60. The socket 58 engages the bottom of shaft 54 when the shaft 54 israised to clear the stops 60.

The tongue member 20 is formed from a plate with an elongated opening atone end forming racks 64 and 68. Teeth 66 are formed on the inside edgeof rack 64 and teeth 70 are formed on the inside edge of rack 68.

The buckle is operated as follows: normally the tongue member 20 and theclasp member 18 are separated when the ski boot is put onto the usersfoot. In order to secure the tongue member 20 and the clasp member 18 ina tightened position, the knob 56 is raised as illustrated in FIG. 4 sothat the second gear 52 clears the stops 60 against the tension of thecoil spring 62. The tongue member 20 is then inserted into the claspwith the rack teeth 66 engaging the teeth of the second gear 52 and therack teeth 70 engaging the teeth of the first gear 48. The racks 64 and68 are guided to the proper position in the clasp member 18 by cornerindentations 36 and 38 respectively. The tongue can be pushed into theclasp to as tight a position as possible while holding up the knob 56.The knob is turned while holding the same upwardly, thereby drawing theracks 64 and 68 evenly further into the clasp member 18. The knob 56 israised and turned until the sides of the boot are drawn together withsufficient tightness or tension. The knob is then dropped so that thestops 60 engage the teeth of the gear 52 as illustrated in FIG. 3. Thebuckle is now locked securely in place.

The buckle of the invention permits quick and easy fastening of the bootand to a desired degree of tightness. The degree of tension required canbe easily achieved with one hand and the tensionin g of the buckle isachieved with a minimum of force-due to the mechanical advantageachieved by the two-gear system.

Reasonable variation and modification are possible within the scope ofthe foregoing disclosure. the drawings and the appended claims withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

l. A boot having an opening to permit insertion of a foot and at leastone buckle for closing the opening about the foot, said bucklecomprising:

a tongue member open at one end thereof and having a pairof rack membersspaced from each other with an opening therebetween, each of said rackmembers having teeth facing inwardly into said opening;

a clasp member formed of an elongated hollow cas' ing and having anopening to receive said tongue members; said clasp member beingremovable from said tongue member;

gear means mounted within said .casing for operatively meshing with saidrack members; and

means for selectively locking said gear means to retain said tonguewithin said clasp member in selected adjusted positions.

2. A boot according to claim 1 and further comprising means secured tosaid gear means and extending through said casing for rotating said gearmeans to ad just said tongue with respect to said clasp member so thatthe closing force or tension exerted by said buckle is adjustable.

3. A boot according to claim 2 wherein said gear means comprises firstand second meshing gear members, said first gear member beingreciprocably mounted within said casing for movement between an upposition and a down position; said selective locking means compriseslugs on the bottom of said hollow casing, said lugs being positioned toengage said first gear member when in said down position.

4. A boot according to claim 3 and further comprising means to bias saidfirst gear in said down position.

5. A boot according to claim 4 wherein said rotation means for said gearmeans comprises a knob having a stem joined to said first gear member,whereby the closing force exerted by said buckle can be adjusted withone hand by said knob.

6. A boot according to claim 1 wherein said gear means are movable forengagement and disengagement with said locking means, and furthercomprising means biasing said gear means into engagement with saidlocking means.

7. A boot. according to claim 6 and further comprising means fordisengaging said gear means from engagement with said locking means.

8. A boot according to claim 1 wherein said gear means comprises atleast two meshing gears.

1. A boot having an opening to permit insertion of a foot and at leastone buckle for closing the opening about the foot, said bucklecomprising: a tongue member open at one end thereof and having a pair ofrack members spaced from each other with an opening therebetween, eachof said rack members having teeth facing inwardly into said opening; aclasp member formed of an elongated hollow casing and having an openingto receive said tongue members; said clasp member being removable fromsaid tongue member; gear means mounted within said casing foroperatively meshing with said rack members; and means for selectivelylocking said gear means to retain said tongue within said clasp memberin selected adjusted positions.
 2. A boot according to claim 1 andfurther comprising means secured to said gear means and extendingthrough said casing for rotating said gear means to adjust said tonguewith respect to said clasp member so that the closing force or tensionexerted by said buckle is adjustable.
 3. A boot according to claim 2wherein said gear means comprises first and second meshing gear members,said first gear member being reciprocably mounted within said casing formovement between an up position and a down position; said selectivelocking means comprises lugs on the bottom of said hollow casing, saidlugs being positioned to engage said first gear member when in said downposition.
 4. A boot according to claim 3 and further comprising means tobias said first gear in said down position.
 5. A boot according to claim4 wherein said rotation means for said gear means comprises a knobhaving a stem joined to said first gear member, whereby the closingforce exerted by said buckle can be adjusted with one hand by said knob.6. A boot according to claim 1 wherein said gear means are movable forengagement and disengagement with said locking means, and furthercomprising means biasing said gear means into engagement with saidloCking means.
 7. A boot according to claim 6 and further comprisingmeans for disengaging said gear means from engagement with said lockingmeans.
 8. A boot according to claim 1 wherein said gear means comprisesat least two meshing gears.